The Forum - 05/08/2008 (Plain Text Version)
|
||
|
In this issue: |
IT Service Management: Where do we begin?
By Michael Rizzo, Regional Sales Manager, Rapid Technologies
Congratulations! This journey can be broken down into 3 familiar pieces – people, process and technology. People Engaged Executive Sponsor We have found that an executive sponsor that is fully engaged and behind this project has been a cornerstone to a successful implementation. The executive sponsor will set clear goals for the project, remove roadblocks and keep everyone focused on results. Support From The Business is Critical In ITIL® v3, one of the key concepts is integrating IT with the business. It is critical for you to go out to your business customers and explain why this project will be good (or even great) for them. It is important to communicate what is going on, what is coming, how things are going to change and, most importantly, why they should care and fund this project. Internal (IT) Marketing Marketing is an essential component that is often missed by organizations. Process Many customers believe they are special, unique and different than any other organization. The reality is that most customers are solving the same types of problems for Service Management the same way as most of their peers. Take a long and hard look at your environment, your customers and most importantly, peers that have put together processes that work. There are known best practices out there with organization, various vendors and now with ITIL® v3 best practices articles. Are you really a “special snowflake”? It will be challenging for some people to change the process from what they do today to good/best practices. In most cases, the various vendors are looking at good/best practices and building their solutions based on these recommendations. The further you deviate from these practices, the more configuration and customization you will need to do to the system. Realistically ask yourself whether you are a “special snowflake,” different from all the rest out there or whether you are more like your peers inside and outside your industry than you previously thought. Many of our customers are moving towards using vendor products “out of the box” and configuring their own data elements into the solution. They are adding customizations only when the customization can be justified by a solid business reason for the change.
It is very tempting to believe that technology can solve all of the problems in your organization and get you to great Service Management. It is a false and very misleading belief. All three pieces (people, process and technology) need to work together to make the overall solution work. Keeping a balance and harmony between the different components is the key to success. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should It is also tempting to look at technology and see all of the interesting ways it can be used in your environment. New solutions allow you to configure and customize the technology. When you update a vendor solution or make changes to your own home grown solutions, ask yourself:
Ultimately, the decision comes down to determining the business value for this change and whether the benefits outweigh the costs. We have seen many implementations minimize changes during the first three to six months of the deployment. The customers ultimately realize that the solutions accomplish the business goals without major customizations. Closing thoughts – it’s a marathon or series of marathons
I hope that this introductory guide helps you understand the upcoming journey you are about to take with Service Management. I welcome feedback, success stories and any updates from you. About the Author:
|
|